capital punishment
Posted inNews

Governor signs bill abolishing Colorado’s death penalty, commutes sentences of state’s 3 death row inmates

by Jesse Paul and John Ingold

Gov. Jared Polis on Monday signed into law a bill abolishing Colorado’s death penalty, simultaneously commuting the sentences of the three men on the state’s death row. Polis converted the death sentences of Nathan Dunlap, Robert Ray and Sir Mario Owens to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The governor’s decision marks one […]

Posted inCOVID, Crime and Courts, News, Politics and Government

Jared Polis can commute the sentences of Colorado’s three death row inmates at any time

by John Frank and Jesse Paul

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis could use his broad powers to commute the sentences of the three men on the state’s death row today.  In fact, he could have converted their death sentences to life-in-prison immediately after taking office in January 2019.  But Polis has sidestepped questions about how he will handle their cases, which became […]

Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government

He survived the Aurora Chuck E. Cheese shooting 25 years ago. A possible death penalty repeal is bringing it all back up.

by John Ingold

COLORADO SPRINGS — He remembers the hum of the vacuum cleaner, the sound of closing time at the Aurora Chuck E. Cheese restaurant where he worked in 1993. He remembers the dishes and the clatter they made when he dropped them to the floor after being shot in the face. He remembers the sight of […]

Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government

Colorado lawmakers will consider whether to repeal the death penalty again, as factors align for passage

by Jesse Paul

For the fifth time in a dozen years, Democrats are pushing to abolish the death penalty in Colorado. And as they revive a conversation that has ebbed and flowed at the Capitol for more than a decade,the work appears to have more momentum toward passage than ever before. Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, supports abolition […]